Ok, I'm late getting to the table on this, but I jsut had the opportunity to see it.

I thought it was probably the best Bond film I have ever seen. No over the top villains (But, some of the stunts were just mind boggling) and no gadgets that saved the day for no apparent reason. It seemed more like very well made, gritty spy movie where the spy just happened to be named "Bond". The torture scene was really tense in its simplicity.

Yup, it definately was a giant step in the correct direction. Now, if they can only keep it up.

I really enjoyed Casino Royale and agree with much of what you said. It's definitely a dvd purchase when it's released. And it will be one of the few Bond films I'll actually have for my video library.

I honestly didn't know what to expect from the film, I was so used to Bond as we all have come to know him in films.
I was blown away by how good it truelly was/is. I think it is the best Bond film, and in the sense of it not being a typical Bond film the new guy (can't remember his name) is the best Bond.

Shut a lot of naysayers right up didn't it! I'd have to say my favorite Bond actors are:
1. Sean Connery (Great sense of humor, but could throw down at the drop of a hat!)
2. Daniel Craig (Ditto! Brought a sense of danger back.)
3. George Lazenby (Yep! IMO one of the best Bond's and one of the best films. Period.)
4. Pierce Brosnan (Brought some great moments to the series, but what happened to the second half of Die Another Day?
5. Roger Moore (Largely did damage to the series with slapstick, cheap laughs.)
6. Timothy Dalton (Great look as Bond, but something was missing.)

I have to say now that I cannot make up my mind who was better: Connery or Craig. They were both good, but the movie itself was a major departure from any of the other bond films ever. I am not sure I could have bought Connery in the torture scene. I know he could have pulled off the rest of the film, but Craig really made me think he was willing to take anything and not give it up for Queen and Country. Ultimately, the movies pacing, writing and style were just so different from any other Bond film that I think Connery Vs. Craig is apples and oranges.

The torture scene was really tense in its simplicity.You'd have to be pretty hard to crack jokes under those conditions. I laughed out loud when he said "a little bit to the right".

Shut a lot of naysayers right up didn't it! I'd have to say my favorite Bond actors are:
1. Sean Connery (Great sense of humor, but could throw down at the drop of a hat!)
2. Daniel Craig (Ditto! Brought a sense of danger back.)
3. George Lazenby (Yep! IMO one of the best Bond's and one of the best films. Period.)
4. Pierce Brosnan (Brought some great moments to the series, but what happened to the second half of Die Another Day?
5. Roger Moore (Largely did damage to the series with slapstick, cheap laughs.)
6. Timothy Dalton (Great look as Bond, but something was missing.)

I haven't seen CR yet ( :cry: ), and I think I'd flip Dalton and Moore, but otherwise I agree. OHMSS is my favorite of the series, and Lazenby is right on. Its a shame that his "friends" gave him bad advice, leading him to never play the role again.

Yeah, I can see Dalton over Moore-it's close though. Even though Dalton (IMO) portrayed Bond a little flat, and License To Kill was a bit weak, at least they weren't silly like the Moore films. When Jaws started flapping like a bird in Moonraker I knew things were starting to go sideways! The pidgeon doing the double take sealed it and made me want to call "Check, please!"

Actually, the space battle was kind of a cool idea-parts of it anyway, but by that time so much damage had been done that it was like nailing a board over one of the Titanic's windows.

BTW, if you haven't seen Casino Royale yet, you can add it to your DVD collection on March 13th.

I haven't seen CR yet ( :cry: ), and I think I'd flip Dalton and Moore, but otherwise I agree. OHMSS is my favorite of the series, and Lazenby is right on. Its a shame that his "friends" gave him bad advice, leading him to never play the role again.

Just watched OHMSS again the other night again. I've always felt Lazenby got a bad rap. He's not bad at all and would have grown even more comfortable in the role with subsequent installments.

for those of us with comcast, encore-on-demand has most of the bond movies available now for free. I'm catching up on all of them. It's fun to catch the source material for Austin Powers. Most of it's there!

So far my favorite is a tie between From Russia with Love and Goldfinger. Dr. No in his cylindrical clear plastic protection suit was supreme silliness.

High tech stuff for back then!!

Can't wait to see it! :)

I'm kinda sad, though, that Brosnan never hot the chance to do a straight spy film like this, or like From Russia with Love. He was a great Bond (IMHO) stuck in bad over-the-top films.

DAlton and Brosnan were both handicapped by 'roger moore type' productions.
When they do a crazy stunt like a semi truck doing a wheelie, it snaps the audience out of the 'reality' of the movie.

I grew up with Roger Moore as James Bond, so his early films have a nostalgic feeling for me, but his latter films are pretty bad. As a grew up I caught up on my Sean Connery movies and deemed him pretty darn great. I totally lost interest when Dalton took over the role, but got rejuvenated with Pierce Brosnan stepped in, even though I think most of the Brosnan films are mediocre. I only recently saw OHMSS and thought Lazenby was excellent.

When Craig was announced as the new Bond, I was disappointed, because the only other movie I had seen him in was Road to Perdition and thought he was way too creepy to play James Bond. But after seeing Casino Royale, I stood corrected. He was terrific. He was a tough guy with a sense of humor.

I would rank Casino Royale in my top 5 faves, along with Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me.

- JJ

My favorite Moore film is "...Eyes Only" - it's basically a straight caper/chase film with little or no gadgetry.

Brosnan's first, "Goldeneye," was probably his best for similar reasons - the closest he came to a straight spy film. But for his later films, the producers kept trying go bigger and bigger, when the films had already reached "over the top" LONG ago. They'd passed the point where they should have started dialing them back, and thus we missed the opportunity of having the best actor for Bond being in any good Bond movies!

Of course I have yet to see Casino...

I wouldn't call "License to Kill" a "Moore-type production." A lot of people hate it, but it's always been among my favorite Bond flicks...precisely because it's a departure from what we are used to from Bond - even if (IMHO) it's consistent and reasonable for the character.

Goldeneye was definitely the best of the Brosnan Bonds - as John said, it wasn't too over-the-top. It would have been nice to see Brosnan take on a more Connery/Lazenby type Bond script, though.

One of the things I like most about "License To Kill" is that it shows what Bond can do when he's unleashed. He had no one to answer to, no mission parameters, limited resources and STILL managed not only get his revenge, but to take out the biggest drug operation in the world. I'd have liked to have seen another couple of movies along those lines with Dalton, personally.

Dalton' FIRST movie, Living Daylights, was indeed written for Moore. But License to Kill was written for Dalton.

I liked the remake of Casino Royale much better than the original. The original was set in a casino and never left the casino.

One thing I didn't like was that Bond couldn't save his girlfriend's life like she did he. It seems that the new trend for bond is to fail.

My wife boycotted this film because she liked Pierce Brosnan.

People critized Bonds CPR techniques. Her lungs were full of water, for one thing. But the script said she dies, so why bother?

It always bugged me that Q gave Bond exactly the gadget he would need later. In this one Bonds greatest gadget is his brains.

I liked the remake of Casino Royale much better than the original. The original was set in a casino and never left the casino.

One thing I didn't like was that Bond couldn't save his girlfriend's life like she did he. It seems that the new trend for bond is to fail.

My wife boycotted this film because she liked Pierce Brosnan.

I am not so sure that is the trend. It shows a novice spy making mistakes. Besides, if the hero does not fail, then he becomes super human and there is not any suspense.

One thing I didn't like was that Bond couldn't save his girlfriend's life like she did he. It seems that the new trend for bond is to fail.


I doubt it, as this is a reboot and the first entry re-introducing him explores Bond's coldness and drive (why the opening credits sequence focused on just him, not the usual parade of lovelies). That is indeed the very ending of the novel that launched the series, though the movie expands the scenario. Quite satisfyingly, I thought. I flippin' loved this movie, One of the very best of the franchise.

Best Bond movie, without a doubt, IMHO.

This movie was--by far--closer to the Ian Fleming novel in story as well as style.

For me to actually recognize a scene and have an idea of what was coming at a critical time surprised me since I've never seen a Bond movie that had much resemblance to the novel it was named after.

Can't wait to see it! :)

I'm kinda sad, though, that Brosnan never hot the chance to do a straight spy film like this, or like From Russia with Love. He was a great Bond (IMHO) stuck in bad over-the-top films.

I gotta say, after The Taylor of Panama and especially The Matador, I think being booted from the Bond films might have been the best thing that has ever happened to Brosnan. The upcoming Seraphim Falls looks like it might have potential too.

I really liked Brosnan as well and thought he was also a great Bond. Tomorrow Never Dies was really good-I thought. In fact, most of his films were pretty good. One trend I didn't care for though was the usual finale with him and a girl blowing up entire operations by themselves. I always thought it was much cooler like in Thunderball or You Only Live Twice where Bond has to call his boys in to help out. You're not going to take out major operations with just a machine gun and a girl at your side. The latter half of Die Another Day got a little off track too. Unless you're a Jedi with the momentary ability to foresee things in a fight, how do you dodge instantaneous lasers?

At any rate, these are seemingly minor complaints given the task put before him; fix what Moore and crew largely ruined. Largely he got it right.

I doubt it, as this is a reboot and the first entry re-introducing him explores Bond's coldness and drive (why the opening credits sequence focused on just him, not the usual parade of lovelies). That is indeed the very ending of the novel that launched the series, though the movie expands the scenario. Quite satisfyingly, I thought. I flippin' loved this movie, One of the very best of the franchise.

I never read the novels myself. If that's how it ended in the book, then I can't argue with how the remake ended. However, the majority of the previousBond movies make him seem like he can do anything or go through almost any scenario in a nicely pressed suit which never geyts dirty, torn, or ruffled.

I never read the novels myself. If that's how it ended in the book, then I can't argue with how the remake ended. However, the majority of the previousBond movies make him seem like he can do anything or go through almost any scenario in a nicely pressed suit which never geyts dirty, torn, or ruffled.

I loved the fact that he was in a panic to replace his shirt after it was splattered with blood from the fight he'd just been in. Very realistic touch.

In the book Casino Royale the story ends pretty much with Bond's "The bitch is dead line." And in the book Rene Mathis was never suspected of being a double agent of any kind. Throughout the books Mathis is as much of a friend as Felix Leiter.

I just watched this on DVD, and have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. It was much better than I expected from the trailers. Craig was a great Bond, and the movie overall was a great film and true to the spirit of Ian Fleming's original novels.

A few very minor quibbles, I didn't think the gal that played Vesper was on par with the rest of the casting, she was a little too bland for my taste. I would have liked to see Bond have played a little more exotic card game at the Casino Royale than Texas Hold-Em Poker, though baccarat would have probably been tough for audiences to follow without massive exposition. And it sure seemed like Sony is the official electronics supplier for Her Majesty's Secret Service.

But again, minor quibbles. The DVD looked and sounded terrific, though the extras were pure fluff and a commentary would have been nice.

I thought Vespa was a motor scooter. I'm gonna have to rent this and watch again...

A scooter that I'd love to ride! :)

A few very minor quibbles, I didn't think the gal that played Vesper was on par with the rest of the casting, she was a little too bland for my taste.

Philip - rent or buy Bertolucci's The Dreamers. I guarantee you will never utter the name Eva Green and the word "bland" in the same sentence ever again.:eek:

SCOTT, you devil, I was thinking that too!!!

And it sure seemed like Sony is the official electronics supplier for Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The film was made by MGM which was a subsidiary company of Sony at the time. You will notice that the DVD starts with a Sony Home Video logo. Hence all the Sony gadgets.

You may also notice that all of the cars used in the film are from Ford or one of its siblings. Jaguar, Volvo and Aston Martin are divisions of Ford Motor Company. The car that Bond was driving when he arrived in the Bahammas was actually a Ford concept car. It was the only one of its kind so far.

I really liked the fact that Bond was capable of bleeding and looking like he had been through the ringer in this film. In most past incarnations, he would tumble down a flight of stairs with a villain and afterwards only have to straighten his tie. It was neat, but unrealistic. Craig is my new favorite Bond!

Saw it Friday. I can't say I was blown away, but I certainly enjoyed the hell out of it.

^I've yet to see a movie on DVD that "blew me away." A big action film like "C.R." plays a heckuva lot better on the big screen.

Well, the 7-rolls of the DBS was pretty spectacular, even on the small screen!

We went out for a CR Blu-ray hunt yesterday. Sold out everywhere

You may also notice that all of the cars used in the film are from Ford or one of its siblings. Jaguar, Volvo and Aston Martin are divisions of Ford Motor Company. The car that Bond was driving when he arrived in the Bahammas was actually a Ford concept car. It was the only one of its kind so far.

Bond and Ford go waaaay back.

We went out for a CR Blu-ray hunt yesterday. Sold out everywhere

the "real" DVDs are even for sale in supermarkets.

Hey, John, thanks for that. When I want to watch a standard definition DVD on my HD plasma, I'll be sure to keep that in mind.

It's sad when the kids leave the nest. :lol:

Hey, John, thanks for that. When I want to watch a standard definition DVD on my HD plasma, I'll be sure to keep that in mind.

And yet, I have the movie and you can't find one to fit yer new gadjit. ;)

John, was also thinking of buying that newfangled Edsel. Your thoughts?

Oh you crazy kidz!! :p

Nothing to add except, love this film and hope to add it to my collection very soon.

Saw it on the big screen, I've heard it's spectacular in HD. Ordered it online, we'll see soon.

Bond and Ford go waaaay back.

Bought the dvd and watched it. a nitpick......all of the cars were left hand drive. Even the DB5

Finally watched it last night. Good Bondian flick.

John, was also thinking of buying that newfangled Edsel. Your thoughts?

Uhhhhh - invalid comparison?
50 year old failed car vs current successful generation of media.
:)

Saw it on DVD last night. Enjoyed it more than in the theater. Except for the sequence in the high-rise construction site the rest plays well on the small screen.

Only thing that confuses me:
Was the guy on the sidewalk in Venice with the eye patch LeChiffre after having undergone plastic surgery?

Update- Got the movie on BluRay, pretty spectacular shots in the Bahamas and the chase at the beginning is crazy cool when they get to the cranes.